Negative Social Media

Social media is a great tool for society; it was reported in Penard’s article that it makes people happier and also allows for global communication and connection. However, social media leads to stress and anxiety because of the constant worry for getting a notification or creating the perfect image on social media. Social media is a platform for social interactions that can increase happiness but it also can cause depression and anxiety from social media interaction.

Each source is valid and invalid in its own unique way. The negative article on social media portrays social media as a depressive, inclusive and harmful to the emotions of a human. However, it is invalid because it assumes all people who use social media experience those effects

However, social media has an algorithm that gears posts towards the viewer that they want to see, it creates an artificial happiness that creates a false image to the person viewing. For example, many people only post the best pictures of themselves to create that picture perfect effect and it satisfies the person posting it and the viewing it. “So to fit in, in our profiles we try to portray perfectly happy and trendy facades because that’s what we see others doing. As a result, our profiles reflect how we want to be perceived, rather than showing an honest picture of who we truly are. Thus many would rather embrace this “happy” safe illusion of virtual connection rather than share and develop real life relationships” (Amedie). This is where the anxiety and depression come into effect, when people our constantly worried of what others will think, when they post their thoughts or, upload a photo of themselves. However, Penard finds that “We find

This is because people do not understand how to avoid these topics and social media sites can easily find a way to minimize these situations. “Clearly social media is inadvertently leaving youth susceptible to become overly self-conscious, anxious and ultimately depressed” (Amedie 5). Lack of trust and comfort leads to anxiety and depression. “Social media is robbing us of trust and comfort we once placed in one another, replacing the human fellowship, physical and emotional support we once drew from each other with virtual connection” (Amedie 4). Social media has supposedly caused people to be antisocial which could lead to anxiety because of the fear to interact with another person. “Ironically, social media is in effect turning us into one of the most antisocial generations, yet. We prefer texting to phone conversations, online chat to a face-to-face meeting, and many have replaced human interaction with convenient platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram” (Amedie 4). However, people still know how to communicate by going to school and participating in extracurricular